Current and former participants in the FirstGroup America Inc. 401(k) plan have reached a settlement with the company, its plan fiduciaries and its investment consultant on an ERISA lawsuit in which plaintiffs accused the defendants of charging high plan fees and creating a "radical redesign" of the 401(k) plan.
No terms were disclosed in a Feb. 8 document filed with a U.S. District Court in Cincinnati by attorneys representing all parties. Details should be available by the end of February in the case of Berry et al. vs. FirstGroup America Inc. et al, the document said.
The plaintiffs sued the transportation services company FirstGroup, its fiduciaries and Aon, the investment consultant formerly known as Aon Hewitt Investment Consulting Inc., in May 2018.
The plaintiffs and Aon announced a preliminary settlement worth $4.5 million in mid-December 2022. But this agreement, which required court approval, excluded the FirstGroup defendants. They challenged the deal few weeks later, contending that the settlement was "prejudicial" to the company and its fiduciaries.
The Feb. 8 agreement-in-principle document acknowledged the dispute, noting that "the parties are in the process of drafting settlement papers that update plaintiffs' previous partial settlement with Aon Hewitt."
The plaintiffs will file an amended class action settlement agreement withing three weeks.
The FirstGroup America Inc. Retirement Savings Plan, Cincinnati, had $356 million in assets as of Dec. 31, 2021, according to the latest Form 5500 filing.
